MEN'S BASKETBALL: The Ventura College men's basketball team continued their resurgence Saturday night with a 60-51 taming of the Cougars from College of the Canyons at the Cougars' Cage in Valencia. Ivan Dooley led all scorers with 20 points, including five 3-pointers, and Jon McMurry had 17 points and five rebounds. Anthony Morman netted 11 points with a team-high seven boards and Jalen Young had five rebounds with eight assists. The win was the fourth straight for VC (11-10, 4-1), as they move into a first-place tie in the WSC North with Moorpark College, their next opponent.
Ventura got off to yet another strong start offensively, opening up an 8-2 lead in the game's opening three minutes. Dooley and McMurry knocked down their first shots from behind the arc to get the Pirate scoring underway. As a whole the Pirates were efficient from the floor in the first half, shooting 46 percent from the floor, and 67 percent from 3-point range. However, Saturday night's contest was won on the defensive end of the floor. Ventura held Canyon to 30 percent shooting from the field and only allowed 25 and 26 points in each half, respectively.
While wings McMurry and Dooley were a combined 8-13 from 3-point land, spreading the floor for forwards Morman and Vondel Faniel, taking advantage and adding 11 and seven points in the paint. The Pirates also got solid production from reserve forward Dennis Savoy who netted five points and grabbed four rebounds.
The Pirates out-rebounded CoC 32-26. They did so in a group effort with five players snagging four or more rebounds. Morman led all players in the game with seven boards, Pirate guards crashed the glass as well as Dooley, McMurry and Young each grabbed five rebounds.
With their fourth consecutive victory, VC has themselves in a position to take sole possession of first place in the conference Wednesday Jan. 29 when they face cross-county foe Moorpark who has an identical 4-1 conference mark. The VC-Moorpark game tips off at 7:00 pm at the Athletic Event Center and can be heard live online on the VC Men's Sports Network.